I'm currently looking for work and thinking about what I want to do for a living. It seems to change every decade. I think, because of my experiences in the past few years, that I most like to work with information in the sense of helping people find what they're looking for. Probably that means getting an MILS, basically a masters in library science, but I haven't made the decision to actually go out and work on it yet. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I want to focus on, such as collecting information, designing databases to hold information, or the final step, dispensing the information. I think probably it will be some combination of collecting and dispensing.

Until recently, I worked at EF Training Center, a Deaf-owned and run nonprofit organization. My job was mainly to put out bimonthly issues of Deaf USA, a national publication of the Deaf community. It was quite a challenge even though I'm told my writing skills are good.

For the summer of 1996, I spent my time on an internship at Kresge Institute, working with a team of students from Gallaudet University and Rochester Institute of Technology. My goal was to be a webmaster, but all the new acronyms and complicated standards have made it less fun than it used to be. Most of what I know about the Internet is self-taught with very little "classroom learning" involved. My main concern is making sure the pages I write are accessible to people with disabilities, and the fewer bells and whistles the better.

Santa Barbara Internet, in Santa Barbara, California, hired me to be one of the staffers, but it was a short-term experience. I also attended UCSB Extension for awhile, hoping to get a Webmaster Certificate. Alas, real life intervened, so I didn't finish. I did, however, get to play with some neat software such as Photoshop. I found out that I didn't like the way the instructor taught HTML, because he didn't think accessible code was worth talking about (it is!)

Here's a really crummy picture of me, sorry, I just hate to have my picture taken! You can also see my resume

I was born in Oakland, California, moving to Santa Barbara when I was about 4 years old. I grew up before mainstreaming became a buzzword, so I can speak really well if I want to, but my education has been kind of hit-or-miss...fortunately my father taught me how to read and was my math tutor up to high school. I've been hard-of-hearing all my life, but only learned to sign when I was in my mid-20's. Since becoming an adult, I've moved around a lot, not setting down roots for long before I move on again, driven by the prospect of a better job, or better training.

When I was little, I wanted to be a famous writer, but now I just like to be good with computers. I'm a little short on programming and graphics know-how, but I enjoy learning, and hope that my writing skills and attention to detail will stand me in good stead. I hope to find my niche some day, but I guess I'm not in a rush to find it.

I have a brother and two sisters, and I love animals. Someday I would like to have a small house in the country with one of each: a cat, a small dog, a donkey, and maybe a potbellied pig. (I haven't decided on the pig, because I need to know if they really are better than a compost pile! *smile*) I like animals because you can talk to them and not have to worry about what they have to say in return; it's all visual between us. I used to have a cat named Possum who never meowed, instead she had a "squeak" for a voice; she never had to develop it because I and my deaf friends couldn't hear her, so instead she developed body language. She was a part Siamese with a crooked tail, hence the name. Gee, I really miss her!

I like to read but I am really, really picky. I like to read golden-age SciFi, Star Trek serials, Fantasy, some mysteries (I like the ones with women detectives in particular), horror stories (Stephen King, of course, but also other similar style writers), quantum physics (written for non-math majors though), chaos theory (ditto), do-it-yourself books, encyclopedias, New Age mysticism and shamanism, HTML manuals, computer game tips, Win3.x tips, etc. Reading is how I compensate for what my ears miss.

I also like: playing computer games, surfing the internet, reading newsgroups, watching selected programs on TV (mostly SciFi/Horror movies, although too many of them are not captioned!!!), chatting one-on-one with someone I understand easily, and building things from scratch, when I have the materials available to do so. When I finally settle down, I would like to build all my own furniture and learn to use a loom so I can also weave blankets and stuff like that. I have found working with my hands to be a very meditative experience.

Thanks for dropping by.
Send me some e-mail! tlshell@concentric.net